Jacqueline Sheehan

Once again Jacqueline Sheehan has pulled me into a story and not let go. This time, it centered on Guatemala, a land whose music and folk art long ago grabbed my heart, while the history has broken it. I'm not even sure where to begin in a review, except to say that I stayed home yesterday just to keep reading this book. It's a story about family, about belonging, about hearing the language of your heart and soul. It's about knowing your roots, and following your instincts. It's got good, show more and evil, mistakes, and mitzvahs. If you need to know more, read the publisher's blurb, then read the book. Did I like it? You betcha. Do I recommend it? What do you think?

Tags: 2016-read, a-favorite-author, an-author-i-read, didn-t-want-to-put-it-down, made-me-look-something-up, read, taught-me-something, thank-you-charleston-county-library, thought-provoking, will-look-for-more-by-this-author show less

Rocky's husband Bob was just forty-two when she discovered him lying cold and lifeless on the bathroom floor . . . and Rocky's world changed forever. Quitting her job, chopping off all her hair, she leaves Massachusetts—reinventing her past and taking a job as Animal Control Warden on Peak's Island, a tiny speck off the coast of Maine and a million miles away from everything she's lost. She leaves her career as a psychologist behind, only to find friendship with a woman whose brain show more misfires in the most wonderful way and a young girl who is trying to disappear. Rocky, a quirky and fallible character, discovers the healing process to be agonizingly slow.
But then she meets Lloyd.
A large black Labrador retriever, Lloyd enters Rocky's world with a primitive arrow sticking out of his shoulder. And so begins a remarkable friendship between a wounded woman and a wounded, lovable beast. As the unraveling mystery of Lloyd's accident and missing owner leads Rocky to an archery instructor who draws her in even as she finds every reason to mistrust him, she discovers the life-altering revelation that grief can be transformed . . . and joy does exist in unexpected places. show less

I found myself enjoying this novel far more than I thought I would - from the cover and description, I assumed it might be some soppy story about how pets enrich our lives. Instead, it was a brilliant collection of funny, flawed and lost women who substitute thrilling chase sequences for bland 'what I learned'-style denouements. I fell in love with the main character, Rocky, who responds to her husband's untimely death by pouring his ashes into a deep fryer in a moment of hysterical show more memoriam. That's a woman who isn't a part of the traditional 'healing through the power of friendship' circle of heroines that I expected this book to take on. It was quite refreshing, and ended up being very powerful, as well as an engrossing read. show less

The concept for Center of the World is interesting. Kate, a budding scientist researching water quality in third world countries, finds herself in Guatemala during a civil war. After witnessing a horrible massacre Kate discovers there was only one other survivor, a Mayan toddler by the name of Sofia. Fearing for their lives as witnesses, Kate steals the child out of the country and raises her as her own. Twelve years go by and it looks as though Kate has gotten away with this illegal show more adoption, thanks to all the lies she has told over the years. However, her husband decides everyone, including Kate, needs to learn the truth. Add a government cover-up, a lost love interest, and a doting grandfather to round out the plot. show less